Is there any real improvement when increasing memory speeds?

[KindaHardcoreGamer]

I know that when it comes to Skylake, faster memory generally is better. But what about when you get to the really high speeds? Like 3400mhz or 3600mhz, compared to 3200/3000? Does the CAS latency of the higher speeds outweigh any real benefits? Help appreciated

 

[Unregistered1]

Some applications and games benefit from higher speeds of RAM but it doesnt make a staggering difference. If you are buying to upgrade from slower speeds, i wouldnt, but if you are looking to purchase DDR4 it depends on the price: if its only a little bit more expensive, it might just be worth it

 

[KindaHardcoreGamer]

Some applications and games benefit from higher speeds of RAM but it doesnt make a staggering difference. If you are buying to upgrade from slower speeds, i wouldnt, but if you are looking to purchase DDR4 it depends on the price: if its only a little bit more expensive, it might just be worth it

So the speed increase would outweigh the latency?
I was looking at 3200mhz ram because I heard it's the sweetspot of latency and, well, speed.

 

[sonofjesse]

In all the benchmarks I have seen it don't change your PC performance say as going from an normal hard disk to SSD. Are you buying a new system or just upgrading ram? Be sure you dont' mix 2 slow stick with 2 super fast sticks. Then you might be wasting your money. The price difference between the RAMS for me personally don't justify the cost.

 

[azaran]

Other than bragging rights, I've seen few real world results for the average person. Now if you're doing very high memory intensive work, amount of RAM and speed of RAM will add to performance. Video Rendering, 3D rendering, Animation, things like that would take advantage of it when factored in to the mix. If you're just gaming and screwing around on the internet like 99% of the people out there, you'll never notice the difference. That money used for higher performing RAM would be better spent towards and SSD for noticeable snap in usability.

 

[Tradesman1]

It really all depends on what you do and how you do it 😉 If single tasking and using basic apps, then know, not really. If you multi-task, use memory centric apps, utilize large data sets, etc then yes faster memory can show decent performance increases. As far as freq and latency - you always want a combo of high freq (data rates) and low CL. As far as gaming, though not mentioned in the opening post, games are utilizing DRAM more and more (both in quantity and in speed, an example

http://wccftech.com/fallout-4-performance-heavily-influenced-by-ram-speed-according-to-report/

and another where they played with faster DRAM in games with a 6500

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2016-intel-skylake-core-i5-6500-review

 

[azaran]

It really all depends on what you do and how you do it 😉 If single tasking and using basic apps, then know, not really. If you multi-task, use memory centric apps, utilize large data sets, etc then yes faster memory can show decent performance increases. As far as freq and latency - you always want a combo of high freq (data rates) and low CL. As far as gaming, though not mentioned in the opening post, games are utilizing DRAM more and more (both in quantity and in speed, an example

http://wccftech.com/fallout-4-performance-heavily-influenced-by-ram-speed-according-to-report/

and another where they played with faster DRAM in games with a 6500

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2016-intel-skylake-core-i5-6500-review

Interesting couple of articles, thanks for the heads up Tradesman

 

[Tradesman1]

No worries, there are more out there. 😉

 

[azaran]

No worries, there are more out there. 😉

Not to hijack the thread, but I think it might help the OP. Do you think this makes a good case to shift away from the H series boards and towards the Z series for budget builds since the price of faster speed RAM has come down so much?

 

[Tradesman1]

With a new series of mobos I'd basically always (here advocate the Z series over the H to provide you with an upgrade path down the road, even if starting with a non-K CPU